ewrestlingfandomcom-20200213-history
Matthew Cross
Matthew Cross (Born September 3, 1989) is a Canadian professional wrestler and the frontman for the band RUDE. =Personal Life= 1989-2001: Growing Up Matthew was born on September 3, 1989 in the suburbs of Toronto Ontario. His father's name is Robert Cross and works as a construction contracter, his mother, Julia works full-time as a cook at a local Milestone Steakhouse. Matthew's parents went through a divorce when he was six years old, until the time he was twelve he would often be back and forth between homes, trying to spend time with both of his parents. Shortly after his twelfth birthday, Matthew decided to live with his mother full-time after his father's drinking became too much of a problem. Growing up with his mother wasn't easy for Matthew, making considerably less money, than her husband, Julia would send Matthew out to do deeds for neighbors and business owners to make money to support their small family. 2001-2006: The Rise of RUDE Matthew and his family struggled to survive for a couple years while his father was making more money than he could spend, and not sparing a dime for the family. When Matthew turned thirteen, he got a job as a busboy at the same steakhouse his mother worked at. Matthew was only thirteen and therefore not of legal age to be working in Toronto, he was however allowed to work for minimum wage and was paid the money "under the table" until his fourteenth birthday. One day while channel surfing, Matthew discovered professional wrestling. After watching his first wrestling show, Matthew told himself that he wanted to be a professional wrestler. Matthew continued working at Milestone with his mother as he began his first year of high school. All of Matthew's childhood friends went off to schools located within their area, MAtthew however decided upon a school that was five miles away from his home and practically in the middle of nowhere in the countryside. MAtthew chose to part ways with his childhood friends because he felt as if he needed a fresh start with life, and a fresh start is exactly what he got. In his first week of the ninth grade he met Hazel White in his math class. From the moment he met Hazel, she was the object of his affection, from her blue eyes that, in no way matched her name right down to her talent on the guitar, something Matthew had always envied. One day, while in math class, the students were told to work in groups to do a special assignment, Matthew was paired up with Hazel and Hazel's good friend Ben Fuller. Ben was a year older than Matthew and Hazel and was repeading grade nine math, among other classes. During that class, Matthew, Ben and Hazel talked so much that they simply forgot all about their task at hand. During that class, Matthew learned that Ben had been playing the guitar since he was five years old, and had been meeting up regularly with Hazel to write and play rock songs together. Matthew, being a huge fan of Rock music his whole life felt as if he had found the best friends in the world in Hazel and Ben. Around the beginning of 2004, Hazel and Ben began putting forth the effort to learn songs from Rock's past. Together they decided to get a band started, this is when they called Matthew and asked him if he could sing, to which Matthew replied "Sing? I just woke up I mean, HELL YEAH!!!" Ben told Matthew to get over to his house, Matthew realized that this was an offer he couldn't refuse, he got to sing for a band and get closer to Hazel, Matthew felt like he hit the jackpot. He immediately threw on his jacket, got his bike out and rode down five miles of icy sidewalks and road until he got to Ben's house, where he could already hear music coming from the garage. Matthew opened up the garage and saw his friends, in their winter jackets and wrapped up in scarves, both with guitars in their hands. Ben was holding an old and worn out Stratocaster, and Hazel, holding a teal acoustic guitar. The two were taking turns playing parts of Iron Maiden's hit "Run to the Hills." Matthew spent the entire day singing for a band that only consisted of himself and two other guitarists. Ben and Hazel both enjoyed having Matthew around, so they invited him back to sing for them again, to which Matthew graciously accepted. Before Matthew left that night the three of them decided upon a band name, that was the night that RUDE was born. In the Summer of 2004, RUDE would gather at Ben's house to practise and rehearse, oftentimes, Ben would wake up in the morning and head down to the garage to find Matthew and Hazel already waiting for him and rehearsing, other days, Ben would simply find himself struggling to contact his bandmates, both of whom would always seem to disappear together. Over the course of the Summer, RUDE had perfected multiple classic rock songs, but they knew that nobody would want to hear them perform, they weren't even a proper band, therefore, they simply stayed together and jammed because they thought it was fun. At the beginning of their second year in high school, people began noticing that Matthew and Hazel had become even closer friends. Ben Fuller Once stated in an interview "Hazel would ride home on the back of Matthew's bike, he would take her out on dates every week, and they were even spotted in a movie theatre together, but they still denied that they were going out." Matthew and Hazel (although growing closer and closer to each other) never neglected RUDE and continued practising in Ben's garage. With time, the band gained steam and became one of the most talked about topics within their school, pretty soon, their band had people lining up to be a part of RUDE. One of these people was Jerry Ashton, Jerry was an award winning drummer and in his last year of High School. Jerry was strange though, instead of coming to the members of RUDE and asking to tryout, he simply wrote them a note and said nothing. Matthew and Ben decided to give him a tryout, long story short, they loved his skill on the drums. After being informed of the news that he was the newest member of RUDE, Jerry laughed, Matthew, Ben and Hazel believed it to be a sign of disrespect, they later learned that Jerry never talks, he expresses everything through laughter. The band found it hard to communicate with someone like Jerry, but they always managed to get him to practice where they continued to perfect song after song from the sixties, seventies, eighties and nineties. One day during practice, Jerry brought a friend along, Jerry's friend was Bobby Blank, a bass player. Bobby explained that he wanted to be a part of RUDE. The members decided together to let him practice with them, Boby picked up everything remarkably fast, thus he became the fifth member of RUDE. RUDE finally became a real band and began performing at parties and gatherings. After realizing that there isn't room in the band for two guitarists, Hazel switched roles and became a special female vocalist for RUDE, her professional experience singing proved to be effective as people immediately fell in love with her unique style of hard rock infused with country. Matthew also didn't have a shortage of fans, for people loved his carefree "I don't give a F*&%" style. For two years, RUDE performed successfully, performing all classic rock songs with their own added style to them. They were being booked for parties, gatherings, special events and even once for a wedding. In May 2006 while performing at the school talent show, all of RUDE's equipment failed, causing them to lose the first place prize to a Nu-Rock band called Impulse. Later on in the week, it was discovered that their equipment failed because bobby Blank had sabotaged his own band. When confronted by the rest of RUDE, Bobby claimed that he was "mistreated" by the band and stated that he quit. Bobby wouldn't leave save though, for Hazel would break his nose with a right handed punch, this was shortly before Ben finished the job, knocking him down and soon after, concussing him. Ben was later charged with "Aggrivated Assault" and brought to court by his former band member, Ben was ordered to pay $3000 for hospital bills and "Pain and Suffering." Without a bassist, RUDE took a break until they could find a replacement, during this time, Hazel spent a lot of time teaching Matthew how to play the guitar, something he had always wanted to learn. At this time, Matthew had gotten Hazel interested in ECFW wrestling. Matthew had always known that Hazel was perfect for him, but he believed it much more when Hazel told him that her favorite wrestler was Lonewolf, even though she had yet to see him in live action, Lonewolf was also Matthew's favorite wrestler, aside of course from his cousin Stef Morrus. For months, the two of them had watched ECFW Tuesday Night Teror together while playing guitar during commercial breaks. RUDE was without a bassist for some time, Matthew and Hazel finished up their third year in high school and spent the entire Summer of 2006 searching far and wide for the band's next bassist. One day, while at Canada's Wonderland, Matthew and Hazel watched a show which featured a small band, within that band was veteran bassist, Philly Nyne. After the show, Matthew and Hazel tracked Philly down to speak with him. Once they finally got his attention, they came to realize that it was nearly impossible for him to carry on a conversation without swearing left and right. Philly liked the idea of working in a successful tribute band, he also liked the idea of making more money than he did at the amusement park. After watching his performance, no tryout or demo was needed, Philly was hired and became RUDE's newest, and at the age of twenty-five, oldest bassist. With their new bassist, RUDE kicked things off once again, they played many shows in the summer, including opening for bands such as AFI and My Chemical Romance. As the Summer came to an end, it was time to get back to school, going back to school opened up a world of opportunity for Matthew Cross and RUDE. Throughout the first half of the year, RUDE was being contacted by students within the school who wanted them to be at their parties. For high school students, these kids had a lot of money to be constantly getting RUDE to perform, the running rate for RUDE to appear at a party was three hundred dollars. On New Year's Eve, RUDE was invited to perform in front of over five thousand people at NAthan Phillips Square for Toronto's annual New Year's bash. RUDE performed during the day of the event and was not televised with some of the bigger name artists and bands. RUDE was well received at the event, obviously sweeping the people off of their feet with their unique renditions of their favorite songs from rock's past. This night closed off another year, and another chapter in the life of Matthew Cross and RUDE. =Professional Life= 2007-2008: Breaking into the Business At the beginning of 2007, Matthew made a resolution that he would follow his first dream, become a professional wrestler. He desperately wanted to get into the wrestling business, but the was no way that he was leaving his band behind, he had worked too hard for years to let his best friends go. In his search for a good wrestling school in Toronto, Matthew got extremely lucky as his favorite wrestler, Lonewolf was opening a wrestling school downtown. Matthew felt as if he wasn't going to get into Lonewolf's new school, so this prompted him to contact his cousin, Lonewolf's best friend, Stef Morrus. Matthew explained his situation to Stef and Stef talked to Lonewolf. Stef was able to convince Lonewolf to let Matthew try out at his gym. Lonewolf said that he wouldn't accept people who showed excessive weakness and laziness in the ring. According to Lonewolf, Matthew showed "Extreme Weakness" and "Laziness that simply could not be topped." Instead of kicking Matthew out, Lonewolf decided that he would create potential in Matthew where there never was any before. Lonewolf knew that he himself couldn't make Matthew into a great, or even good wrestler, and that is when he employed the help of his mentor, The Fritz. The Fritz was a man in his late forties who wrestled a lot during the seventies, eighties and nineties, starting his career when he was just eighteen. The Fritz looked much too old for his age, he later told Matthew that he only aged terribly because drug use in wrestling was abundant in the wrestling business, and he thought he needed all sorts of drugs to keep himself up to speed with the rest of the guys. Matthew stated in an interview that The Fritz told him never to even think about using drugs to enhance your performance, stating it will "Just screw you over in the long run." In a later interview, Matthew stated that "The death of The Fritz should be a wake up call to everybody who has chosen to play Russian Roulette with their lives." In June 2007, Matthew Cross and Hazel White graduated from High School, Ben once again failed and decided to drop out of school, Hazel graduated at the top of her class. RUDE performed at their high school prom. After graduation, Hazel was contacted by the former veteran bassist of Impulse, Philly Nyne. Philly showed interest in joining RUDE as their bassist, the bassist the group desperately needed. After listening to a demo tape, Philly was named RUDE's newest member. On top of being the newest member, at the age of 25, Philly was also the oldest. Rude went on to perform for about a month, performing some of their greatest sets in this time period before Hazel announced to her bandmates the heartbreaking news that she was to leave the band in September for she was starting university. Hazel, being such an influential member of RUDE, was the reasoning behind the band's first original song simply titled "Hazel." In the Summer, ECFW went on their "Pacific Rim" tour, touring countries such as New Zealand, Australia, and China. It was during this tour when Lonewolf and Viper Venom were surprised by Matthew Cross and Ben Fuller who both used the money they spent to fly half way across the world and join Lonewolf and Viper on the international tour. Throughout the entire tour, Matthew and Ben (mostly Ben) became more of a liability to Lonewolf and Viper than good company. Matthew was constantly finding himself in trouble, while Ben was repeatidly found cheating on his girlfriend with local women from every country they visited, as well as leaving a trail of destroyed hotel rooms behind him. Once the Pacific Rim tour had ended, Lonewolf and Viper got back on the road in North America while Matthew and Ben returned to Toronto to continue performing with RUDE. Throughout September, RUDE performed shows all over downtown Toronto in clubs and small theatres. Every Saturday, Matthew would report to Lonewolf's gym for continued training. On November 6, 2007 Lonewolf called Matthew up and told him to come down to his gym, when Matthew arrived, he was pleasantly surprised to hear the news that Lonewolf had recommended Matthew as the first graduate of his gym to some small-time promotions. About fifteen independent promotions responded, but Matthew chose to sign a three month deal with a Toronto-based wrestling promotion called CWA (Canadian Wrestling Assaciation). Within his first month in CWA, Matthew was scouted by ECFW and offered a development deal. The contract stated that Matthew would begin wrestling for one of ECFW's many development territories the moment his contract with CWA expired. Matthew agreed to ECFW's offer. Matthew attended a Christmas concert on December 17, 2007, it was at this concert where he saw what he believed was an amazing solo performance by Belle D’Aubigné, a tattoo clad rebel. She performed an expert piece on the violin. After seeing this, MAtthew tracked her down to the outside of the theatre where he found her enjoying a cigarette. Matthew explained to Belle that he was looking for a special new sound for RUDE. Belle told Matthew that she's multi-talented, having experience on almost every instrument as well as having experience singing for small-time bands such as RUDE. Matthew didn't need any more convincing, he offered Belle a spot in RUDE right then and there, an offer that Belle graciously accepted. RUDE got the opportunity of a lifetime, on New Year's Eve, they went to Nathan Phillips Square and had the opportunity to perform in fromt of more than a thousand fans prior to the New Year's celebration in Toronto. The crowd loved RUDE's unique tribute to classic rock, their first single "Hazel" also went over extremely well with the large crowd. RUDE rung in the new year together at Nathan Phillips Square among the people of Toronto. The new year kicked off in a big way for both Matthew Cross and RUDE, Matthew was undefeated in CWA and his contract was almost finished, which meant he would be able to go wrestle for ECFW within a month's time. As for RUDE, Matthew got them numerous gigs playing at CWA shows. Toward the end of January, Matthew came to the conclusion that after many years of performing, RUDE had garnered so many fans that it was time for them to host their own concert. They rented out a place on Queen Street in Toronto, had flyers made, paid for advertising on the internet and in newspapers. No advance tickets would be sold for all admissions were paid for at the door. On the day of the performance, there was a line-up of fans waiting to get into the building. Each guest paid $30 to enter the building and watch the show. RUDE sold out the building. During the performance, RUDE treated their long-time fans to a surprise as Hazel White came back for one night only to perform with the band. The most memorable moment of the night to many in attendance was Matthew and Hazel's duet of Meat Loaf's classic "Paradise by the Dashboard Light." Coming off of RUDE's single most successful show, Matthew wrestled his last match in CWA, retaining his East Coast Championship against Blair Simmons. Matthew finished his run in CWA with a perfect record of 12-0-0. No longer being a member of the CWA roster, Matthew was forced to leave his championship behind, but he didn't mind too much for he was far too excited about getting his opportunity to work for ECFW. On Fabruary 20, Matthew got started in DSW, DSW was once ECFW's biggest development territories, but had since gone defunct and then revived as a much smaller territory with a roster consisting of only fifteen men and two women. Ever since this day, Matthew has been wrestling weekly for DSW. RUDE has since taken a break from performing in front of crowds and have focussed on honing their individual skills in hopes of turning RUDE into an international success. Matthew now spends a lot of his time in the United States, wrestling for DSW among other independent promotions. He finds the time every single weekend to come back to Toronto, he spends every Saturday with Hazel and every Sunday rehearsing with RUDE. =In Wrestling= Entrance Music "Live Wire" By A Mötley Crüe cover by RUDE (CWA and DSW) Favorite Moves * Double Cross (Modified face crusher, with the opponent doubled over, Matthew puts his right leg on the back of their neck and forces them down, face-first into the mat) * Level Out (With the opponent siting on the top rope, Matthew runs up and hits an enziguri, from there he hits a frankensteiner, landing in a pin) ** Crossed Off (John Morrison style neckbreaker) ** Hurricanrana ** Moonsault ** Dropkick (From the mat or elevated) ** Over Castle ** Jacknife Pin ** Northern Lights Suplex ** Shooting Star Press ** Headlock ** STF ** 450 Splash =Trivia= * Matthew is a Virgo, but shows no traits of the typical Virgo. * The song "Hazel" was originally written by Matthew, when RUDE first performed the song after Hazel's departure, Matthew claimed that it was a collaborative effort. * During the first month of Matthew's training, Lonewolf sent him to an ECFW show to wrestle in a dark match, Matthew lost in under a minute. * In both the CWA and DSW, Matthew has been described as one of the kindest, funnest and funniest people backstage. * In February 2008, Matthew got into a verbal argument backstage with Sabrina Lockhart, according to Sabrina, Matthew was rude and walked right into her in the hallway, Matthew responded by saying "I'm in a band called RUDE." The disagreement made wrestling new sites worldwide. * Matthew and his cousin Stef Morrus once completely flooded Josie Morrus' (Stef's sister) bathroom in a prank gone horribly wrong. Matthew Cross Matthew Cross Matthew Cross Matthew Cross Matthew Cross